Gaming

'BioShock Infinite' Is a Journey You Should Not Miss

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We all want a clean slate. Everyone has past misdeeds, large or small, that we wish could be wiped clean with one broad stroke. It's no different for Booker DeWitt, the hero of BioShock Infinite. His troubled past as a soldier who fought in the Battle of Wounded Knee in 1890 and then as a Pinkerton agent, pushing people around for his bosses, has given him a heaping pile of regrets for his violent acts.

So when he suddenly gets the opportunity to wipe it all out by rescuing a girl named Elizabeth, he's eager to take on whatever adventure necessary to complete his objective. What transpires along the way, as Booker wrestles with his destructive past and Elizabeth's unique powers, is the story of BioShock Infinite.

Back to BioShock

BioShock Infinite is set in Columbia, a breathtaking city floating high above the United States in 1912. It's a land of providence we quickly learn broke away because it couldn't conform to America's ideals. Columbia is lead by Zachary Comstock, a prophetic leader with a deep religious bent. His followers believe they've been taken to a "new Eden," having been saved from the hedonism they believe lies below the city.

The game takes its name from Irrational Games' BioShock, which was released in 2007 to rave reviews from critics and fans alike. That game was set in a subaqueous dystopia, called Rapture, whose citizens went collectively insane in the 1950s. With such little in common beyond their names, how could BioShock Infinite be considered a sequel?

Series fans will realize within the first 15 minutes of gameplay why this is a BioShock game. The games are thematically similar in some ways, or feature analogous story elements. It's almost as if Irrational Games Creative Director Ken Levine wanted to create his own set of archetypes that remain present between the two worlds, and you’ll begin to draw your own parallels as you discover more of Columbia.

The most obvious is Comstock, and his BioShock counterpart Andrew Ryan, the objectivist who founded Rapture because he couldn't fit in within normal society. Instead of going to the clouds, he headed to the bottom of the ocean.

But we meet Comstock and Columbia earlier in their story arch than Rapture; you arrive to a bustling city in the midst of its founding anniversary celebration. Booker must blend in with an idyllic carnival scene, orienting himself among this strange group of zealots as he searches for Elizabeth.

The game does so much to show off how beautiful it is. As soon as you land in Columbia, you arrive in a church littered with candles, with pools of water reflecting the soft light. Later, you’ll zip around rooftops and be able to see the whole scope of the city falling beneath you. I played this on a PC, and that might provide the sharpest graphical experience for players, but I can’t confirm the console verison isn’t just as sharp.

Booker's bewilderment with the new world he's landed on will mirror the player's. You'll find several ways to interact with Columbia to gain backstory. Players can overhear snatches of conversation as they wander the streets, watch small silent films, or listen to audio recordings by various characters you collect along the way. These recordings are the most crucial way to pick up backstory, and I want to encourage players to search diligently for them. While none are crucial to gleaning the story’s main idea, these vessels for context can help answer a lot of questions down the line. Players collect pieces of plot in BioShock Infinite like they would weapon upgrades in other games, and it's up to you how much of a compleationist you want to be.

Booker progresses through Columbia on a linear path chasing plot points, with time to explore each self-contained level for secrets. Some areas are cut off from you as soon as you depart them. BioShock Infinite relies heavily on backtracking to complete some objectives, usually after you realize the path is blocked and need to collect something to correct that. While I can understand why this is a great story device, I found myself annoyed in having to retreat to the same spot two or sometimes three times. It can make for an annoying game experience when it happens.

A feature that would have been helpful during these backtracking periods was a map, but those are absent from the game. Instead, you have the option of activating an arrow that points the right direction before quickly dissipating. (It's a technique familiar to anyone who has played Dead Space.) I found myself longing for a map a few times for determining where the objective was, or finding other places to explore for exploration's sake.

While I've explained a lot of the ways players can explore the world, I'm doing this to deliberately encourage you to do so, and so I can avoid talking about BioShock Infinite's story beyond generalities as little as possible. It's that gripping, and worth experiencing firsthand without any spoilers from the Internet at large. I can talk about the themes, such as redemption from our pasts — whether it be religious or otherwise. They are expertly woven into the story and presented in various texts to gamers, which is hard to do in a game where the minute-to-minute objectives often include "kill anyone who stands in your path." Thematic synchronicity is rarely even brought up in gaming, which shows you how truly unique BioShock Infinite is.

Battle for Columbia

Of course, an engaging story isn't enough to sell a game alone, and BioShock Infinite also needs to be a competent first-person shooter. If you are a fan of the franchise, you won't get a lot of surprises going in; the game has you dual-wielding a gun in your right hand and a type of mutant power, known as a Vigor, in your left hand. For firepower, players can pick from an arsenal of different types of guns, large and small. You'll only be able to carry two weapons at a time and may have to switch often, depending on ammo availability. The guns have a few upgrades available from a vending machine, and can be purchased with the cash you collect along the way.

The Vigors act as creative problem solvers for combat. You'll collect eight through the game that allow you to burn, shock, hypnotize, push and pull your enemies. They each have interesting names and animations, including one that lets you summon a murder of crows to attack your enemy. If you're looking to play more defensively, you can use each power to drop traps and lure your foes into them. My personal favorite was a Vigor called Undertow that let you grab far away enemies and pull them up to be finished off at close range.

As if crazy powers weren't interesting enough, the game introduces the Skyhook as a combat and travel tool. The whole floating island of Columbia is covered in aerial tracks, and Booker can use his hand-held Skyhook to swing along them, moving at high speeds across areas where there is no other passage. Moving along the tracks takes some getting used to, as it's easy to whiz by your destination and need to flip around but, once players pick it up, they'll be able to explore new regions and get the drop on enemies from above. The Skyhook can also be used as one of the most gruesome melee weapons ever.

If this wasn't enough for your arsenal, once you do meet Elizabeth, she becomes an extremely useful companion in your campaign. Elizabeth is a great combat ally; she doesn't try to take down enemies, but instead scavenges for anything you might need in battle, including ammo and first aid kits, and lobs them your way during the heat of the moment. She also discovers lots of things when you're exploring Columbia, and will provide you with money she's collected to increase your purse.

Elizabeth’s interactions with Booker during the entire game have quite a lot of depth to them, with the obvious intent that the player is meant to become concerned for her. She’s a well-written character and makes the game a lot more interesting.

BioShock Infinite takes players on a journey that enthralls in its narrative and environment. You'll only put the final pieces together as the credits roll, and you'll be left with a heavy feeling as you try to put every detail of the game together in your head.

I predict many people will want to start another play-through almost immediately to wrap their heads around the trip they've just been sent on. Parts of the story may leave some players feeling manipulated, but it takes interesting steps in gaming normally reserved for different types of fiction, and I hope it sets the bar high for future games.

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